The Illinois General Assembly overwhelmingly rejected the 1992 report prepared by the Compensation Review Board proposing a 14.6 percent raise in
salary for legislators, judges, constitutional officers and
department heads. A 3.4 percent cost-of-living adjustment
(COLA) agreed to in 1990 took effect on July 1.

The June 3 Senate vote of 53-4 mirrored an earlier 113-2
House vote to reject this year's report. Both houses must
reject the report, which is filed by May 1 every two years, or
the raises automatically go into effect on July 1. With the
exception of accepting a 1990 recommendation for an
annual COLA (5 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever
is lower), the legislators have rejected the last three reports
issued by the Compensation Review Board.

The sponsor of the resolution that rejected the 1992
report. Sen. Thomas A. Dunn (D-42, Joliet), said that with
the General Assembly cutting many critically needed programs in education, human services and health care "to
accept these raises would be an insult for all of those
residents of the state who depend on services and programs." The one-sided nature of the vote indicates an
acknowledgment by both Democratic and Republican legislators that voting themselves a pay raise in this election
year would be political suicide.

Senate President Philip J. Rock (D-8, Oak Park), who is
not seeking reelection and was one of only four senators
who voted not to reject the report, recognized the politics of
the vote. "The Compensation Review Board recommendations, made as they were by 12 citizens representing a broad
spectrum of Illinois business, labor and academics, were
very reasonable. Unfortunately, the climate is such that
elected public officials don't seem to be able to have the will
to deal with the question of adequate compensation."

A group of 28 Republicans led by Rep. Timothy V. (Tim)
Johnson (R-104, Urbana) went a step further and called for
the abolition of the Compensation Review Board. "It's
reprehensible that a body created to ensure equity and guard
the public purse strings can even suggest pay raises at a time
of drastic budget cuts to our needy individuals — the
elderly, the disabled and children," Johnson said. "In my
opinion, the board has outlived its usefulness."

The Compensation Review Board was created by the
General Assembly in 1984, in part, as a response to the
public anger over a 40 percent pay raise that lawmakers
voted themselves in the lame-duck session after the 1978
general election. That outcry led directly to the 1980
Cutback Amendment that eliminated cumulative voting and reduced the size of the House from 177 to 118
members. To make the process of pay raises less political
and more professional, the legislature created the independent, volunteer board with the 12 members appointed by the
four legislative leaders. The board is intended to be a
dispassionate body that can offer an objective periodic
review of the salary levels of judges, elected officials and
top executives in the executive branch. The Compensation
Review Board bases its recommendations on what similar
jobs pay in neighboring states, what subordinates earn
within agencies and what the board believes is required to
attract and retain qualified employees.

Kevin Forde, chairman of the Compensation Review
Board, believes the board does a necessary job in
providing some order to the pay scale in Illinois
government. "When we were created, the picture for compensation for state employees was just a mess ... we called
it a crazy quilt." Forde explains that directors of small
agencies were paid more than directors of large agencies,
and many employees within agencies were paid more than
their directors. With the acceptance of the first two reports
(January 1985 and May 1986), those inequities were eliminated. However, Forde says that with the rejection of the
last three reports those inequities have reappeared.

One of the three specific points Forde made in his
testimony at the Senate Executive Committee hearing on
the 1992 report was that salaries of directors are lower than
the salaries of people they supervise. Forde also noted that
the director of the State Police earns less than many local
police chiefs in the state. For example. State Police Director
Terrance W. Gainer earns $68,732 whereas Chicago Police
Supt. Matt Rodriguez makes $107,500 a year. Chiefs of
police of smaller cities like Rockford at $79,890 and Peoria
at $70,955 earn more than Gainer.

Disparities in pay at the Department of Corrections, the
agency with the fourth-largest budget, are also mentioned in
the Compensation Review Board's report. Director Howard
A. Peters III, who took a $3,300 pay cut as warden at
Pontiac to head the agency, earns $68,732. Twelve of his
subordinates make more than he does.

According to Forde, the reason inequities in the pay scale
occur is that employees in the code departments (those
under the Civil Administrative Code) are getting step
increases and other kinds of increases over the years, and
the director isn't getting anything. "I mean, this is stupid,"
says Forde. He believes the situation would get worse

12/July 1992/Illinois Issues

if there were no compensation review board, or if lawmakers continually reject the reports. Forde believes, however,
that as long as the reports are being prepared and being
considered, at least someone is keeping track of who is
making what: "Otherwise they wouldn't even know."

The second point that Forde, a Chicago attorney and
former president of the Chicago Bar Association,
emphasized in his testimony was judicial salaries.
"We recognize that judicial salaries in Illinois are much too
low," testified Forde. Richard W. Austin, testifying as
spokesman for the Joint Illinois State Bar Association-
Chicago Bar Association Committee on Judicial Salaries,
pointed out that a magistrate in the federal system performing relatively minor duties receives almost $20,000 more in
salary than an Illinois Supreme Court justice. As another
example, Austin reported that a federal trial court judge
earns $45,000 more than a trial judge in the state court
system. Forde stressed that judicial pay, in particular, should
be related to judicial pay in other states, to the federal
government and to what lawyers can earn in private
practice.

The third point Forde stressed in his testimony was a
need to amend the Compensation Review Act to allow the
report to be filed in odd-numbered years rather than even-numbered years. "We are aware of political realities and
recognize that a report like this, filed only months before a
general election, does not receive the dispassionate and
objective review it deserves." But a change in the timing of
the report would be fought. Indeed, Rep. Penny Pullen (R-55, Park Ridge), who cosponsored HB 4214 to eliminate the
Compensation Review Board, said, "They are scheduled to
report in even-numbered years precisely so that pay raises
that are not truly warranted will be rejected."

Sen. Dunn says he is torn on the issue of eliminating the
Compensation Review Board. "The public has always
objected when we set our own pay raises. ... So I am faced
with returning the decision to the body [General Assembly]
or doing away with a commission that so far seems to have
worked." Dunn adds that he cannot recall anyone reporting
to him abuses by the board that would warrant its demise at
this point. For an average cost of $16,000 annually (for the
most recent two-year period) required to perform the
board's functions, Dunn feels the public "has gotten its
money's worth" from the Compensation Review Board.

The cost to the state to implement the recommendations of the 1992 Compensation Review Board
would have been $15.1 million (including fiscal year
1993 COLA) for the approximately 1,100 state employees
and officials affected. Forde contends that the increases
would have had little impact, about 0.05 percent, on a
budget of $28 billion.

Both Rep. Johnson and Sen. Dunn agree that the General
Assembly is becoming too professional (over 50 percent call
themselves full-time legislators) and want the assembly to
be a more diverse representation of the citizenry. On the
other hand, Sen. Dunn joins Senate President Rock in voicing concern that government officials be paid enough to
attract and retain competent employees. The former interim
director of the Department of Corrections, Kenneth L.
McGinnis, left Illinois in 1991 to head the the Michigan
Department of Corrections, where he is paid $83,100, a
26.2 percent pay increase.

Current salary v proposed but rejected salaries from
Compensation Review Board for selected state officials, by branch
(3.4 percent cost-of-living increases included in both salary
amounts)

Current salary

Proposed salary

Legislative Branch

* Legislators

$

38,495

$

44,097

Judicial Branch

Supreme Court justices

100,681

115,331

Appellate court judges

87,652

108347

Circuit court judges

86,882

99,050

Associate judges

80,967

92,266

Executive Branch

Governor

100,681

115,331

Secretary of state

88,836

101,764

Attorney general

88,836

101,764

Comptroller

76,991

88,195

Treasurer

76,991

88,195

Lieutenant governor

71,069

81,410

Directors, departments of

Revenue, Mental Health and

Developmental Disabilities,

Public Health, Employment

Security, Transportation and

Public Aid

76,991

88,195

• Directors, departments of

Agriculture, Children and Family

Services, Commerce and

Community Affairs,

Conservation, Corrections,

Rehabilitation Services and State

Police

71,069

81,410

Dunn says that he would lean toward a suggestion made
by Chairman Forde to separate the salaries — and the
politics — of the General Assembly from the salaries of
judges and executive branch officials. Dunn says that he
agrees with the argument that when you have senior
government employees, they are a more valuable asset to
the public "than a greenhorn who must learn the ropes."
Dunn feels that is particularly evident for judges.

Forde testified that the board was cognizant of the fiscal
condition of the state and limited its recommendations to
reinstating compensation lost through inflation. "But for the
unique and difficult financial circumstances of the state at
this time," Forde submitted, "we would be recommending
much more substantial increases, particularly for the judicial branch and a number of directors of key administrative
agencies."

Many Illinoisans are feeling the recession and would not
look kindly on representatives who voted themselves any
pay raise. But for 1,100 state employees, who have not had
a raise in base pay since 1987 and can expect only cost-of-living increases until 1994 at the earliest, the "servant" in
public servant will have more meaning.